Unboxing time: The hands-on experience with the new iPad

I own an iPad 1, over the years, it has really grown on me. I have to admit I wasn't so into it at the beginning. After Apple announced the retina-display edition of the device, I put in my order. This time around, I have ordered white 32GB 4G model (compatible with Verizon, hoping for low drama with data pricing). I actually really liked my first-gen iPad, and I have used it in my workflow more often than I ever would have predicted. Working from the Ars Orbiting HQ means I am very often trying to find novel ways to stand up and not be seated. There have been days where I have not stood up from my desk work station for three to four hours. Yikes. Sitting kills. With the iPad, I can read articles, check into the IRC channel, even IM and take phone calls on Skype as needed. Since I don't have double monitors in my home setup, it helps a lot with screen real estate too. And sure, I use it for fun: Netflix, books, and whatever games don't suck too badly.

So…this week my new iPad should be reaching my grubby little hands.Delivery dates are scheduled for the 16th, but we'll see how well the delivery services perform.

Here's what I'm going to be looking for as I unbox it:

A comparison of screen resolutions. I'm really intrigued about how the retina display will impact my usage.

E-book rendering. My grad school work focused on e-book usability, and I am dying to know how the experience changes with the retina display.

Peformance. I have never needed that much speed from my iPad, but will this one be able to work well enough to maybe speed up my tasks, like messaging, email, etc? I have pretty good wifi speeds at home, but I'm hoping the new processor boosts things a little.

Camera comparisons. I may actually end up taking my iPad to more places knowing I can shoot video and take photos

iphoto. I am still NOT sold on this one. I simply don't feel I need to edit photos much in my mobile devices, sorry.

I do wish this new iPad came with UX enhancements via a more significant, iOS update, but I think we'll just have to wait for that later in the year. There are niggling problems like Notification Center that I hope Apple can address.

If you are buying one, or you already ordered one, I am really curious what you will be looking for in the new device. Are any of you using your iPad as a supplement to actual work tasks? I am always super curious about that. I'd love to get down to some real talk about it once a lot of new owners have had time to use it this weekend. What features will you be looking to review in the new iPad?

Not to veer off-topic, but as someone who (still!) designs dead tree books as part of my living, I'd be really curious to hear more about this; do you have a thesis/research study that is available to the public? Alternatively, I think a summary of your work would make a *very* interesting Ars feature.

Quote:

A comparison of screen resolutions. I'm really intrigued about how the retina display will impact my usage.

I'm curious about this too. I have an iPad 2 I use primarily for work-related tasks and don't intend to upgrade until the mythical "iPad 4" since I don't feel limited by it in any way (so far). That being said, I remember when I went from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4, primarily due to the promise of the "retina" display. And while it is indeed beautiful and sharp and improves readability in some cases, it didn't really improve usability for me since iOS doesn't allow you to take advantage of that extra resolution in the same way a "normal" computer does: I chose a 27" iMac for my most recent Mac purchase versus a 21" model not so much due the processor, hard drive, or any other metric. It was the enormous swath of screen space I could fill with browser windows and Creative Suite palettes and every other digital resource I need during a typical work day. With no ability to scale icon or text size/adjust icon grids and (obviously) no windowing system, the dramatically improved resolution loses some of its appeal and value. I expect people will find it beautiful, but I question whether it's really more "useful."

Or rather, that's my theory -- I would be interested to hear what people think, especially those who, like you, are coming from other iPad models.

Not to veer off-topic, but as someone who (still!) designs dead tree books as part of my living, I'd be really curious to hear more about this; do you have a thesis/research study that is available to the public? Alternatively, I think a summary of your work would make a *very* interesting Ars feature.

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My degree is in Human Computer Interaction. I am still working with my advisor on some editing, but I plan to submit my work to a peer reviewed journal or an academic conference this year. My research question was this: What types of annotation are people actually making as they use e-books and e-readers for both recreational and work tasks?

Previous to that work, I have looked at differences in e-book reading habits in older populations vs. younger people. I really enjoy observing the evolution of the e-book, though I know some people still find them off-putting. As soon as my research is ready for submission, I would love to write up an in-depth Ars feature on the state of the e-book. Do you annotate ever in your e-books, if you own one?

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

You know, I hadn't thought about that until now. I do my main fiction and non-fiction book reading on the Kindle because of the sharpness I get from e-ink, but this new iPad may change that for me. I think that's another Ars feature we'll need to write!

A comparison of screen resolutions. I'm really intrigued about how the retina display will impact my usage.

I'm curious about this too. I have an iPad 2 I use primarily for work purposes and don't intend to upgrade until the mythical "iPad 4" since I don't feel limited by it in any way (so far). That being said, I remember when I went from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4, primarily due to the promise of the "retina" display. And while it is indeed beautiful and sharp and improves readability in some cases, it didn't really improve usability for me since iOS doesn't allow you to take advantage of that extra resolution in the same way a "normal" computer does: I chose a 27" iMac for my most recent Mac purchase versus a 21" model not so much due the processor, hard drive, or any other metric. It was the enormous swath of screen space I could fill with browser windows and Creative Suite palettes and every other digital resource I need during a typical work day. With no ability to scale icon or text size/adjust icon grids and (obviously) no windowing system, the dramatically improved resolution loses some of its appeal and value. I expect people will find it beautiful, but I question whether it's really more "useful."

Or rather, that's my theory -- I would be really interested to hear what people think, especially those who, like you, are coming from other iPad models.

EDIT: typo.

The way I look at it is very simple WRT the new dpi increase. If you have both an iPad and iPhone4/4S and found the iPad's screen increasingly jagged looking as you got used to the retina on the iPhone4/4S I suspect you will be thrilled with the new iPad. If it doesn't bother you in the least then you might be less impressed. That said the increased dpi should result in a much nicer experience on the iPad due to the sheer size of the screen and the increased saturation should make for a pretty stunning display IMHO.

I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

IB2 will need to be updated to take advantage of the new res, if they think they can do it and still run at an acceptable speed. That is an awful lot of eye-candy filled pixels to push and I do wonder what is going to happen with GPU dependent games at full res on the new iPad. Worst case scenario the games will look exactly the same but run considerably smoother due to the added GPU cores.

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

I am still struggling to find games I really like on iPad, but the new display may also sway me more. Sadly, I am mostly playing strategy games and ports like Final Fantasy. Some of those new titles just don't do it for me. Maybe I will try out Infinity Blade, though. It seems you enjoyed it!

I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

IB2 will need to be updated to take advantage of the new res, if they think they can do it and still run at an acceptable speed. That is an awful lot of eye-candy filled pixels to push and I do wonder what is going to happen with GPU dependent games at full res on the new iPad. Worst case scenario the games will look exactly the same but run considerably smoother due to the added GPU cores.

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

You know, I hadn't thought about that until now. I do my main fiction and non-fiction book reading on the Kindle because of the sharpness I get from e-ink, but this new iPad may change that for me. I think that's another Ars feature we'll need to write!

Update: I'll be writing this feature for Ars, indeed. Look for it on the site soon. I'm really dying to know if the new iPad can give e-ink a run for its money.

I am still struggling to find games I really like on iPad, but the new display may also sway me more. Sadly, I am mostly playing strategy games and ports like Final Fantasy. Some of those new titles just don't do it for me. Maybe I will try out Infinity Blade, though. It seems you enjoyed it!

I liked the Infinity Blade games but can't say I loved them. That said I really do look forward to the new Infinity Blade Dungeons game they demoed during the Apple keynote. It looks like it takes some of the mechanics of the IB series and extends it into more of an adventure crawler format and even though we were looking at it on a projector screen it did look pretty nice, and they seem to claim it was running at full resolution so we shall see.

I would love to write up an in-depth Ars feature on the state of the e-book. Do you annotate ever in your e-books, if you own one?

I'll look forward to that feature, then. So much of the media coverage of eBooks and their growing effect on publishing centers on the (admittedly equally interesting) business aspects, but I believe there is a lot of hearsay accepted as fact when it comes to usability and design, not to mention a lot of capabilities created at the behest of marketing departments. I like the idea of research starting to catch up to the question of how people use books and what are the ways in which eBooks can enhance that experience versus simply expanding it without focus.

I do use eBooks, both the iBookstore, and (primarily) Amazon, through the Kindle.app on both my iPad and iPhone. However, most of my eBook reading is for pleasure, not "purpose" -- for that I prefer to use the more of-the-moment resources of the web, and the ability to jump between, and search among, a wider array of resources. And (I would assume?) like most people, I'm less inclined to annotate when reading for pleasure since it's more passive.

What I have found interesting about annotation, particularly in the Kindle model, is how I can see what others have annotated (well, or at least what others have "highlighted"). This I find fascinating, as it has never been what I expect. I find people make note of the most rudimentary facts, rather than of key points or thesis statements, almost like they're attempting to memorize the breadcrumbs of a chapter versus grasping the overall idea, although I should hesitate to make conclusions like that since I can't really guess what the motivation is. I just find the opportunity delightfully voyeuristic.

The one example I can think of of my own annotation is cookbooks, of which I have a few eBook versions. I tend to leave myself little notes about what worked and what didn't in a given recipe, and highlight key steps that I found either difficult or not as described. And while there was nothing preventing me from writing on the pages of my dead tree cookbooks, I rarely did because I didn't want to "ruin" them.

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

I am still struggling to find games I really like on iPad, but the new display may also sway me more. Sadly, I am mostly playing strategy games and ports like Final Fantasy. Some of those new titles just don't do it for me. Maybe I will try out Infinity Blade, though. It seems you enjoyed it!

Infinity Blade was really more of a tech demo than a game, but for what it was I thought it was well done. It was really a vehicle to show off what the A4 chip could do in the iPad 1 and iPhone 4. I was obsessed with it for a while, and eventually got my guy to such a high level that I could kill the God King numerous times in a row before being defeated. I doubt I'll play IB2 as much as IB1, but I am curious to see what it looks like on the new iPad.

I am still struggling to find games I really like on iPad, but the new display may also sway me more. Sadly, I am mostly playing strategy games and ports like Final Fantasy. Some of those new titles just don't do it for me. Maybe I will try out Infinity Blade, though. It seems you enjoyed it!

I liked the Infinity Blade games but can't say I loved them. That said I really do look forward to the new Infinity Blade Dungeons game they demoed during the Apple keynote. It looks like it takes some of the mechanics of the IB series and extends it into more of an adventure crawler format and even though we were looking at it on a projector screen it did look pretty nice, and they seem to claim it was running at full resolution so we shall see.

My tastes veer mostly toward horror, adventure, RPG or strategy. If I could find games that are like Resident Evil 4, Zelda, Fire Emblem, or Final Fantasy, I'd be set. Mostly I run into titles that feel a.) very short or b.) not quite as good as console titles. This is probably just perception on my part, but I really do want to find more games. Right now I'm playing Carcasonne with friends, and that's about it. But, with the new retina display, I hope something suits my tastes!

I would love to write up an in-depth Ars feature on the state of the e-book. Do you annotate ever in your e-books, if you own one?

I'll look forward to that feature, then. So much of the media coverage of eBooks and their growing effect on publishing centers on the (admittedly equally interesting) business aspects, but I believe there is a lot of hearsay accepted as fact when it comes to usability and design, not to mention a lot of capabilities created at the behest of marketing departments. I like the idea of research starting to catch up to the question of how people use books and what are the ways in which eBooks can enhance that experience versus simply expanding it without focus.

I do use eBooks, both the iBookstore, and (primarily) Amazon, through the Kindle.app on both my iPad and iPhone. However, most of my eBook reading is for pleasure, not "purpose" -- for that I prefer to use the more of-the-moment resources of the web, and the ability to jump between, and search among, a wider array of resources. And (I would assume?) like most people, I'm less inclined to annotate when reading for pleasure since it's more passive.

What I have found interesting about annotation, particularly in the Kindle model, is how I can see what others have annotated (well, or at least what others have "highlighted"). This I find fascinating, as it has never been what I expect. I find people make note of the most rudimentary facts, rather than of key points or thesis statements, almost like they're attempting to memorize the breadcrumbs of a chapter versus grasping the overall idea, although I should hesitate to make conclusions like that since I can't really guess what the motivation is. I just find the opportunity delightfully voyeuristic.

The one example I can think of of my own annotation is cookbooks, of which I have a few eBook versions. I tend to leave myself little notes about what worked and what didn't in a given recipe, and highlight key steps that I found either difficult or not as described. And while there was nothing preventing me from writing on the pages of my dead tree cookbooks, I rarely did because I didn't want to "ruin" them.

Yeah, my research interests have a lot to do with people's real experiences and needs with books. The paper book is such an enduring and almost perfect technology, and I am fascinated at how we are moving into reading digital texts. Annotation is particularly interesting, because it taps into a task or activity that is very introspective. You really are alone with your thoughts every time you annotate. But, if they are shared, how is that going to change our communication and understanding of books? It's great stuff to discover.

My tastes veer mostly toward horror, adventure, RPG or strategy. If I could find games that are like Resident Evil 4, Zelda, Fire Emblem, or Final Fantasy, I'd be set. Mostly I run into titles that feel a.) very short or b.) not quite as good as console titles. This is probably just perception on my part, but I really do want to find more games. Right now I'm playing Carcasonne with friends, and that's about it. But, with the new retina display, I hope something suits my tastes!

My tastes veer mostly toward horror, adventure, RPG or strategy. If I could find games that are like Resident Evil 4, Zelda, Fire Emblem, or Final Fantasy, I'd be set. Mostly I run into titles that feel a.) very short or b.) not quite as good as console titles. This is probably just perception on my part, but I really do want to find more games. Right now I'm playing Carcasonne with friends, and that's about it. But, with the new retina display, I hope something suits my tastes!

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

I am still struggling to find games I really like on iPad, but the new display may also sway me more. Sadly, I am mostly playing strategy games and ports like Final Fantasy. Some of those new titles just don't do it for me. Maybe I will try out Infinity Blade, though. It seems you enjoyed it!

Infinity Blade was really more of a tech demo than a game, but for what it was I thought it was well done. It was really a vehicle to show off what the A4 chip could do in the iPad 1 and iPhone 4. I was obsessed with it for a while, and eventually got my guy to such a high level that I could kill the God King numerous times in a row before being defeated. I doubt I'll play IB2 as much as IB1, but I am curious to see what it looks like on the new iPad.

Are any of you using your iPad as a supplement to actual work tasks? I am always super curious about that. I'd love to get down to some real talk about it once a lot of new owners have had time to use it this weekend. What features will you be looking to review in the new iPad?

I use mine a pretty fair amount at work. I'm not permitted to connect to the network or use if for work email and I have to be very careful about what data I put on the iPad (Proprietary or sensitive information is prohibited), but I do use the calendar, Omnifocus and Filemaker Go for work. I really wish I could expand some of the data I could put on the iPad because Filemaker would be a big boon to productivity for a lot of the things I have to keep track of. I do use it and it is important, but only for a limited set of data.

The two things I'm looking forward to on a personal level are the screen for reading (I have about 200 eBooks on mine currently) and Verizon LTE. AT&Ts network is so hammered around here (even with decent coverage in areas where I work) that getting on the internet is an exercise in frustration many times. Since I work in a high density research area (i.e. lots of engineers/scientists) I guess it's only to be expected.

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

You know, I hadn't thought about that until now. I do my main fiction and non-fiction book reading on the Kindle because of the sharpness I get from e-ink, but this new iPad may change that for me. I think that's another Ars feature we'll need to write!

Update: I'll be writing this feature for Ars, indeed. Look for it on the site soon. I'm really dying to know if the new iPad can give e-ink a run for its money.

If part of your coverage can cover typesetting, that'd be fantastic. Personally, I'm dying for any, any, ebook reader or app to do anything resembling proper typesetting. None of them even do basic ligatures, let alone extended ligatures (I particularly like Th) or hanging punctuation.

I'm going to buy a new iPad for the display, but I'm going to keep hoping someone will sell a device or write a reading app that actually looks good.

Update: I'll be writing this feature for Ars, indeed. Look for it on the site soon. I'm really dying to know if the new iPad can give e-ink a run for its money.

I may be too much of an e-ink fanboy, but I doubt it. I find the display on my iPhone 4/4S to be quite attractive, but they lack the paper-y feel of the Kindle (and the amazing battery life). The same will likely be true of the iPad. It'll be a fantastic upgrade and great for interactive texts and such, but for basic reading I can't think of anything I'd rather use than my Kindle. Plus, the Kindle is pretty much the perfect size for casual reading. Something significantly bigger, like the iPad, is less desirable for that specific use.

I'm also expecting my iPad on Friday (32 GB, white, WiFi only, since you ask). Will be replacing a 32 GB, 3G iPad 1. One usage scenario I'm looking forward to is web browsing in portrait.

On my iPad 1 I sometimes prefer to hold it in portrait (e.g. when in bed), yet websites typically look poor with 768 horizontal pixels. I'm hoping that reading Ars in bed (iPad in portrait) will be much improved.

Similarly, I think the new iPad will make a truly fantastic PDF reader (e.g. for papers).

Lack of crashes (due to 4x iPad 1 RAM) when browsing with Safari is another hope I have for a big improvement.

/somewhat off topic, but I didn't keep my iPad 1 box. I'm planning to sell the iPad 1 on eBay (will also try the Agora) and wonder whether I should offer to ship the iPad 1 in the iPad 3 box (assuming it fits). Is this a stupid idea?

/somewhat off topic, but I didn't keep my iPad 1 box. I'm planning to sell the iPad 1 on eBay (will also try the Agora) and wonder whether I should offer to ship the iPad 1 in the iPad 3 box (assuming it fits). Is this a stupid idea?

My shipping info says it will be at my apt no later than 3 pm on Friday, so I'm eagerly anticipating unboxing it as well. What I'm looking forward to the most is simply the screen. I think I will finally be able to use the iPad as my main reading device. I had been using a regular Kindle for ebook reading, but with the super sharp screen I think I can just use the iPad now. I am also curious about the graphics capabilities. I really enjoyed Infinity Blade, but have been holding out on Infinity Blade 2 because I wanted a super high res iPad. I'll be buying Infinity Blade 2 sometime on Friday and giving it a test run.

You know, I hadn't thought about that until now. I do my main fiction and non-fiction book reading on the Kindle because of the sharpness I get from e-ink, but this new iPad may change that for me. I think that's another Ars feature we'll need to write!

Update: I'll be writing this feature for Ars, indeed. Look for it on the site soon. I'm really dying to know if the new iPad can give e-ink a run for its money.

If part of your coverage can cover typesetting, that'd be fantastic. Personally, I'm dying for any, any, ebook reader or app to do anything resembling proper typesetting. None of them even do basic ligatures, let alone extended ligatures (I particularly like Th) or hanging punctuation.

I'm going to buy a new iPad for the display, but I'm going to keep hoping someone will sell a device or write a reading app that actually looks good.

One of the obstacles for typesetting is that the fluid and resizable nature of fonts causes some problems. However, those small touches are what make print books such valuable objects. Let me look a little further into it and see if I can add some info to our coverage.

Update: I'll be writing this feature for Ars, indeed. Look for it on the site soon. I'm really dying to know if the new iPad can give e-ink a run for its money.

I may be too much of an e-ink fanboy, but I doubt it. I find the display on my iPhone 4/4S to be quite attractive, but they lack the paper-y feel of the Kindle (and the amazing battery life). The same will likely be true of the iPad. It'll be a fantastic upgrade and great for interactive texts and such, but for basic reading I can't think of anything I'd rather use than my Kindle. Plus, the Kindle is pretty much the perfect size for casual reading. Something significantly bigger, like the iPad, is less desirable for that specific use.

i have a Kindle 3, which i used to use a lot. i got an iPad 2 at work in December, and i haven't really touched the Kindle since. it's not that the iPad 2 is actually a better e-reader than the Kindle 3, it's not, but it's good enough, i have the iPad with me almost everywhere, and it's super convenient being able to switch from reading to all the other tasks that i can do with the iPad. i imagine iPad 3 will be great for reading.

A comparison of screen resolutions. I'm really intrigued about how the retina display will impact my usage.

I'm curious about this too. I have an iPad 2 I use primarily for work-related tasks and don't intend to upgrade until the mythical "iPad 4" since I don't feel limited by it in any way (so far). That being said, I remember when I went from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4, primarily due to the promise of the "retina" display. And while it is indeed beautiful and sharp and improves readability in some cases, it didn't really improve usability for me since iOS doesn't allow you to take advantage of that extra resolution in the same way a "normal" computer does: I chose a 27" iMac for my most recent Mac purchase versus a 21" model not so much due the processor, hard drive, or any other metric. It was the enormous swath of screen space I could fill with browser windows and Creative Suite palettes and every other digital resource I need during a typical work day. With no ability to scale icon or text size/adjust icon grids and (obviously) no windowing system, the dramatically improved resolution loses some of its appeal and value. I expect people will find it beautiful, but I question whether it's really more "useful."

There's one particular use case for me I've thought about in the past, the "usability" with the increased resolution has the potential to be similar in some cases, if your eyesight is good enough. In particular for anything with fixed layouts instead of needing to zoom in cause text looks like shit at smaller sizes, you can read while zoomed out, which in effect lets you see more at once. I've had this issue with stuff like PDFs or scanned textbooks (which I've made for my last few classes), having to pan around while zoomed in is annoying as hell.

Input wise of course it makes no difference. SketchBook Pro could be interesting to see cause it has a 2048x1536 canvas option, other than likely looking much better showing at native res, I guess you'd be able to see full detail without having to zoom in to check.

The Professor wrote:

Keep the iPad 3 box for when you sell it in a year or two. Original packaging has value (when paired with its correct hardware of course).

And am I the only one going from an iPad 2 to the don't-call-it-the-iPad-3?

I'm debating it. While I'd like the new display of course, my bigger want was a faster CPU (and unrealistic want: Wacom digitizer). I'll wait to see reports on how it feels for more apps, maybe more stuff is GPU accelerated than I expected and the extra cores help, or the extra RAM is noticeable for some stuff.

...also my birthday is next month, I figure even if I don't get it myself my family will probably assume I want one (not that they'll be able to find one by the time they think about it ).

Urraca wrote:

One of the obstacles for typesetting is that the fluid and resizable nature of fonts causes some problems. However, those small touches are what make print books such valuable objects. Let me look a little further into it and see if I can add some info to our coverage.

(continuing off my first point above) Pleaae include something about viewing fixed layout stuff, PDFs, scans, comics, websites, whatever you can think of. I remember someone here being disappointed with the iPad for comics cause you couldn't view 2-up cause the resolution was just too low. Text size will still be a problem (cause it'd still be relatively small pages compared to the real thing) but I'm wondering whether they'd at least be legible now while viewing proper full 2 page layouts.

/somewhat off topic, but I didn't keep my iPad 1 box. I'm planning to sell the iPad 1 on eBay (will also try the Agora) and wonder whether I should offer to ship the iPad 1 in the iPad 3 box (assuming it fits). Is this a stupid idea?

A comparison of screen resolutions. I'm really intrigued about how the retina display will impact my usage.

I'm curious about this too. I have an iPad 2 I use primarily for work-related tasks and don't intend to upgrade until the mythical "iPad 4" since I don't feel limited by it in any way (so far). That being said, I remember when I went from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4, primarily due to the promise of the "retina" display. And while it is indeed beautiful and sharp and improves readability in some cases, it didn't really improve usability for me since iOS doesn't allow you to take advantage of that extra resolution in the same way a "normal" computer does: I chose a 27" iMac for my most recent Mac purchase versus a 21" model not so much due the processor, hard drive, or any other metric. It was the enormous swath of screen space I could fill with browser windows and Creative Suite palettes and every other digital resource I need during a typical work day. With no ability to scale icon or text size/adjust icon grids and (obviously) no windowing system, the dramatically improved resolution loses some of its appeal and value. I expect people will find it beautiful, but I question whether it's really more "useful."

There's one particular use case for me I've thought about in the past, the "usability" with the increased resolution has the potential to be similar in some cases, if your eyesight is good enough. In particular for anything with fixed layouts instead of needing to zoom in cause text looks like shit at smaller sizes, you can read while zoomed out, which in effect lets you see more at once. I've had this issue with stuff like PDFs or scanned textbooks (which I've made for my last few classes), having to pan around while zoomed in is annoying as hell.

Input wise of course it makes no difference. SketchBook Pro could be interesting to see cause it has a 2048x1536 canvas option, other than likely looking much better showing at native res, I guess you'd be able to see full detail without having to zoom in to check.

The Professor wrote:

Keep the iPad 3 box for when you sell it in a year or two. Original packaging has value (when paired with its correct hardware of course).

And am I the only one going from an iPad 2 to the don't-call-it-the-iPad-3?

I'm debating it. While I'd like the new display of course, my bigger want was a faster CPU (and unrealistic want: Wacom digitizer). I'll wait to see reports on how it feels for more apps, maybe more stuff is GPU accelerated than I expected and the extra cores help, or the extra RAM is noticeable for some stuff.

...also my birthday is next month, I figure even if I don't get it myself my family will probably assume I want one (not that they'll be able to find one by the time they think about it ).

Urraca wrote:

One of the obstacles for typesetting is that the fluid and resizable nature of fonts causes some problems. However, those small touches are what make print books such valuable objects. Let me look a little further into it and see if I can add some info to our coverage.

(continuing off my first point above) Pleaae include something about viewing fixed layout stuff, PDFs, scans, comics, websites, whatever you can think of. I remember someone here being disappointed with the iPad for comics cause you couldn't view 2-up cause the resolution was just too low. Text size will still be a problem (cause it'd still be relatively small pages compared to the real thing) but I'm wondering whether they'd at least be legible now while viewing proper full 2 page layouts.